SOME QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT CHINCHILLAS...!!!

1) What do a chinchilla eat?

The chinchilla bread at home will be fed a good food for chinchilla and the best hay,on alternate days a small peice of fruit may be added.

2) How long do a chinchilla live?

La Plata chinchilla, if correctly bred, live a media of 10 years. Costina chinchilla are a little less long living.

3) What beautiful chinchilla puppie. How much will they grow?

An adult La Plata will be 25cm long tail excluded and its weight surpasses 700gr.

4) Do they go well with other animals?

The chinchilla of the type “La plata” likes to be friend with everyone, even with domestic animals like the cat and the dog, but it depends a little bit on the character of the latter who may not accept the friendship offered by the chinchilla.

5) Do they bite?

Again, we must distinguish between the chinchilla “La plata”, which likes to be petted and which is a joker and the “Costina” which is diffident of everyone and sometimes aggressive, sprinkling urine and rarely lets itself be caressed. The La Plata rarely bites even if frightened mile the Costina may do so.

6) Do they suffer solitude?

All depends on who looks after the chinchilla. The chinchilla loves to be noted,likes to draw attention,loves to be petted and caressed.If this does not happen,if the chinchilla is only fed and left always in the cage, then it suffers solitude. The chinchilla La Plata once at home wishes to integrate with its owners.

7) How do I recognize the La plata chinchilla from the Costina one?

In Italy the Costina is in decline because the public now knows the two types of chinchilla and only ask for the La Plata type. The substantial difference in the character a leaper in the cage and shy in letting itself be touched by anyone is the Costina.Calm,trustful and affectionate is the La plata.

8) What is the purpose for that stone that the chinchilla gnaws periodically?

Rodents among these the chinchilla have the incisers in continual growth and hence have to continual need for things to gnow, in this way the animal passes the time doing continual maintanance of his incisors and playing at the same time.

9) How do you go about creating friendship between two chinchillas one of which has been acquired before and one which has just been baught?

We are often consulted about this problem We say it outright that we do not have these problems with our chinchilla La plata. The la plata make friends very easily with its keeper even with other chinchillas. We have eseen chinchillas La plata make friends even with cats if the latters agree. The solutions are diverse. Years ago two chinchillas were sprinkled with perfume so that they will be confused(the chinchilla have very developed hearing and smell and thay trust exclusively these two senses)Normally it is the master of the cage that attacks the new arrival, so the method is to put them in a neutral cage so that both are outside their environment and so they behave more timid between them and they hence develop more rapidly friendly relationship. The smaller the cage is the more functional it is.You can also put a tube as a refuge so that the attacked chinchilla can refuge in without receiving fatal wounds. We advice to put the chinchilla in the tube before you put it in the cage so that he will get used to it and will know were the refuge is.

10) How can I recognize the chinchilla's sex?

It is possible to recognize the chinchilla’s sex from birth simply by observing the genital organs on the outside and the anus.You can note the anus and the penis in the male chinchilla while in the female you observe the anus and the urinary(papilla) that can easily be mistaken as the penis.In the young chincilla the penis is about 2-4mm distant from the anus, this space tends to increase 1-2cm in the adult. In the female there is no distance between anus and the papila, these seem to be united to form one organ. Between the papilla and the anus one notes a slot normally closed that is the Vulva. This opens only when the female has reached sexual maturity during the fertile period or nearing delivery.

In practice one can observe that the female sex is all grouped in the anus, while the male sex is well away from the anus.

NB: During the sexual operation we recommend to observe the animals from behind, trying to lift the tail. This will spread the genitals and will show you the difference of the organs with minimal error.

Here are some illustrations and photos to show it better.

This is a female...

Frontal view
Lateral view

This is a male...

Frontal view
Lateral view

11) At what age can you recognize the chinchilla's sex?

The chinchilla’s sex can be recognized as soon as they are born.The procedure of distinguishing sex does not change. In the young male the distance between the anus and the penis is less but it is always there.

Here some photos of a young chinchilla:

Young male	Young female

12) Do the sounds that the chinchilla make have any meaning...? at times it seems like thay are sneezing...

The chinchilla communicate among themselves but also with humans through particular sounds and actions. Speaking of sounds, if it gives you the impression of sneezing it is a sign of fear when either the human or animal is not familiar.